Pages

Wisconsin Media Prop up Ryan's Lying

October 22, 2012

Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan stepped into the vice presidential debate
prepped with a cadre of misstatements to confuse voters (24, according to Think Progress' count.) But he didn't get away with much,
what with Vice President Joe Biden giving him a drubbing ("Facts
matter," Biden said again and again) and moderator Martha Raddatz
repeatedly holding his feet to the proverbial fire.No wonder he seemed rattled; he's never faced
hard questions before.
.
The seven term congressman from Southeast Wisconsin is not used to reporters
verifying statements or holding his feet to the fire because, throughout his
career, he's been well coddled by Big Media owners so blatantly right wing they
publicly brag about their power to get Wisconsin
Republican candidates elected.

. Courtesy MarioPiperni.com
.
The Milwaukee media market is unique (note: Ryan's 1st District does not
include Milwaukee but is a mere 10 miles south, and Milwaukee media dominates
it, as well as much of Wisconsin.) A single corporation, Journal
Communications, owns Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel newspaper, TV
station WTMJ, and uses its 50,000 watt radio giant WTMJ as an unabashed
cheerleader for all GOP candidates, especially Ryan. Clear Channel
Communications, which owns six radio stations in Milwaukee, joins the Republican lovefest on
its own 50,000 watt blowtorch WISN. Their political preference and clout is so
clear, critics in the community call WTMJ and WISN "WGOP."
.
Five local right wing radio hosts hold court fifteen hours a day, every
Monday through Friday, from studios in Milwaukee.
Charlie Sykes, Mark Belling, Vicki McKenna, Jay Weber, and Jeff Wagner dominate
signals that travel hundreds of miles and reach millions of people in four
states. They wave the flag in one hand and the Bible in the other, whipping up
fervor for their favored Republican candidates, meanwhile lying to audiences
about facts of importance and propping up falsehoods of those same
"moral" GOP candidates they promote without question. Daily they
mischaracterize and demonize Democrats, but never do they allow them on the air
to mount a defense.
.
These facts are backed up by a study Media
Action Center
conducted during the Scott Walker recall campaign. MAC found that during the
four week election, the Milwaukee
marionette manipulators gave about 160 minutes of airtime every day to
supporters of Scott Walker and the GOP to specifically promote their
candidates, but abjectly refused to allow supporters of Democratic candidates
any access to their giant microphones whatsoever. Add it up, and WISN and WTMJ
radio gave Republicans more than a million dollars in free airtime -- plus a
keen venue for the GOP to misinform the public about their opponents without
recourse.
.
Given that those radio airwaves legally belong to all the public, not just
the Republicans, you'd think there'd be a law against it. Actually, there is a
law against it -- sort of.

.
Section 315 (a) of the Communications Act is the law that says if one candidate gets broadcast airtime,
the opponent must be afforded equal time, if that candidate requests it within
seven days. An FCC rule called the Quasi-equal
Opportunities Rule, or "Zapple Doctrine," expands that law to
include supporters of candidates. It says, in the 60 days before an election,
if a broadcaster provides time to supporters of one major party political
candidate, it must provide comparable time to to supporters of the opposing
candidate.
.
Supporters of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett did request
comparable time from WISN and WTMJ throughout the Walker recall campaign, but were either
denied or ignored. So right in the middle of the recall campaign, Media Action
Center filed an urgent complaint to the Federal Communications Commission
to enforce the Quasi-equal Opportunities Rule.
.
Given the Constitutional issues surrounding the case, MAC did not expect an
answer in time for citizens of Wisconsin
to obtain redress in the remaining two weeks of the recall campaign. The case
pits the First Amendment rights of broadcasters against the Free Speech rights
of the actual owners of the airwaves, We the People, and it understandably
would take a bit of time to sort out. Luckily, the Supreme Court is on the
Peoples' side. In the seminal case Red Lion v FCC, SCOTUS ruled that "The First
Amendment is relevant to broadcasting, but it is the right of the viewing and
listening public, and not the right of the broadcasters, which is
paramount." And "The First Amendment does not protect private
censorship by broadcasters who are licensed by the Government to use a scarce
resource which is denied to others."
.
But given the political significance of the complaint (and analysis by some in the radio industry,) one would think
the FCC would have found time to make a decision prior to the 2012 general
election so Big Media owners could not continue to censor the political voice
of nearly half the U.S.
population during a critical campaign. But the FCC remains silent.
.
This is not new behavior for the FCC: as documented in my film Broadcast Blues, the FCC routinely ignores the
public whose interest it is tasked to serve; the agency often doesn't even
bother to notify legal petitioners with results of their decisions. (As the
theme song from the film sings, "If you stand up to the FCC, all you hear
back is BFD!") As noted by media attorney Harold Feld, the FCC doesn't
even abide by the SCOTUS Red Lion decision defending the public interest,
apparently because FCC lawyers don't like that law.
.
But Broadcast Blues also warns the FCC that if it will not stand up for We
the People, We the People are standing up for ourselves. "This is OUR
media, and we are taking it back!" Hence the genesis of Media Action
Center.
.
MAC is striving to further these goals at next year's National Conference
for Media Reform. Please help make it happen by voting for our panel. Votes must be in by Friday Oct 26th.
.
Help us pressure the FCC into acting on behalf of the public interest, not
just the Republican interest.

CeaseSPIN.org News Quality Rating System

Top 40 Best Documentaries

About Me

Sue Wilson tells important stories which move politicians to act. She is the Emmy winning director of the media reform documentary "Broadcast Blues" and editor of SueWilsonReports.com.
Broadcast Blues sets its sights on media policy, and www.SueWilsonReports.com turns a critical eye on the media itself.
She recently formed an activist site, http://www.MediaActionCenter.net